


Shelter From The Storm

by GotTheSilver



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-13
Updated: 2011-12-13
Packaged: 2017-10-27 06:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/292758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GotTheSilver/pseuds/GotTheSilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Non magical AU based on 3 Men And A Baby.  Baby Harry is left on the doorstep of three men who are quite unprepared for such a task.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shelter From The Storm

**Author's Note:**

> A 2am idea that wouldn't leave me alone. Thanks to Kasper for the beta

  
**Sunday**   


Sirius stirred, his face nestled in Remus' neck, an arm thrown across his waist. A smile twisted across his lips as his brain caught up to the fact it was a Sunday. Not only was it a Sunday, but James was away and they had the whole flat to themselves. He sat up and set upon his goal of irritating Remus so much he'd wake up.

"Moooony, wake up!"

Remus groaned. "Why are you poking me?" he said, voice rough from sleep.

"It's Sunday."

"Not an explanation, Pads."

"Bet if I was poking you with something else, you wouldn't say that."

Remus opened an eye "Unless you're going to follow through on that, I'm going back to sleep. Go get breakfast or something." Sirius practically jumped off the bed and wandered off to the kitchen. Remus watched him go before rolling onto his stomach and closing his eyes again. He managed to get a good few minutes of sleep, before he was rudely interrupted by Sirius slamming the door open. "Sirius, what the fuck?" he whined, burying his face in the pillow

"There's something on our doormat."

"It was probably the dog down the road, Sirius. Plastic bag, bin, you know the drill. Yell at them later."

"What? No, not that. This is... alive."

Remus sat up "Alive?"

Sirius threw Remus' dressing gown at him "I think you should come take a look."

******

"It's a baby, Padfoot."

"I know. Why is it on our doorstep?"

"How should I know?!"

"You did go through a phase..."

"A very short phase, over 10 years ago. That's a baby. What you're suggesting is highly impossible."

"What if they kept your, y'know, produce."

"Oh dear god, Sirius, it's Sunday morning, I'm barely awake and there's a baby at my feet, please stop."

"So why is it here?"

Remus knelt down to look in the bassinet "There's a note." He picked it up and stood back up, Sirius leaning over his shoulder.

 

  
_Dear James,  
Here is our baby. I thought I could handle this alone, but I can't and I have nowhere left to turn.  
His name is Harry. I hope someday you can both forgive me.  
Love, Lily._   


Sirius gazed down at the baby in disbelief "Moony, please tell me this child does not belong to James."

"I mean -"

"Because considering James won't be home for a week, and we have no idea how to contact this Lily woman, I can't help but think that we are going to end up taking care of it."

"Him."

"What?"

"Not 'it', Sirius, 'him'," Remus waved the note around "Harry, apparently."

"Yes. Well. Since you're so well acquainted with him, you can bring him into the flat."

"Pads, come on, it's not like we can abandon the kid, it's not fair."

"It might not even belong to James!"

Remus looked in the bassinet and smirked "Oh, I think it's his."

His curiosity piqued, Sirius came closer and joined Remus, groaning as he saw the distinct, unruly, Potter hair "That can't be normal. No child has hair like that so young."

"Apparently the Potter gene is strong."

"Just what the world needs, a mini-James."

******

They'd placed the bassinet on the table, now they stood looking down at the baby. Somehow, miraculously, he was still asleep. Sirius was staring at the baby, his mouth slightly open, the thought of James having created this child edging him into shock. Remus nudged him. "Do you think we should pick him up?"

"But he's asleep. What if we wake him?"

"I guess - oh, look, his eyes are opening."

Sirius watched as Harry opened his eyes, they focused on Sirius' face and blinked, Sirius looked at Remus "Shouldn't he be crying?"

"You want him to cry? Because I think that's the last thing I want."

"No - I just - I mean, wouldn't you cry? Abandoned by the only person you know, you wake up and you've got two strangers staring at you and you're in a place you don't -" Sirius noticed Remus smiling at him "What?"

"I love you."

Sirius ducked his head, grinning "Love you too. Now, which one of us is gonna risk picking him up?"

"I'll do it, I guess," Remus reached down and scooped up the baby "Come here, kiddo."

"What are we going to do with him?" Sirius watched as Remus settled Harry against his chest "We don't know anything about kids."

"You've got a younger brother."

"Who was brought up by a nanny, just like me. You know what my mother was like," He paused "What about your mum?"

"She's in France, Pads, you know that."

"You could ask her to come back."

Remus snorted "And say what? 'Remember James, mum? Well he apparently knocked up some woman called Lily and now we're stuck with his kid'? I don't think so."

"I don't know, your mum's always appreciated honesty. Remember that Christmas when you unwrapped my present and she wanted to know what it was and I -"

"Sirius!"

"I was just saying."

Remus gave him a tired smile and shook his head "And I appreciate the walk down memory lane, but we have more pressing matters."

"Such as?"

"Such as, this kid is going to need food, clothes, nappies, and unless you want me to use our sheets for the last one, we're going to have to go to the supermarket."

"On a Sunday? With a baby? Are you trying to make me kill things?"

"Sirius, it's either that or the kid starts crying. A lot."

"He seems pretty peaceful now."

"He's barely awake, and, believe me, we do not want him to realise we have no food for him."

"How do you know so much about babies? Sure you don't have a secret kid from when you were shagging women?"

"Nope," Remus grinned "I have you."

"Oi!"

******

Sirius hated how busy the supermarket was on Sundays and refused to set foot in the place until after they'd bought a baby carrier for Harry and he was safely strapped to Sirius' chest. He might not be eager to take care of the kid, but he wasn't going to let some crazy woman looking for pesto hurt him. Somehow they made it to the baby aisle without Sirius punching anyone (there had been a close call with a kid on a scooter, but he backed off once he saw a full Black Glare directed at him) and Remus was now looking at the endless shelves full of nappies.

"How big is he?"

"He's baby sized."

"Sirius..."

"I don't have anything to compare him to, how am I meant to know?"

"How much of your chest does he cover?"

"Not as much as you do," Sirius smirked as Remus rolled his eyes "About three quarters, I don't know, he's little. His feet are on my tummy."

As Remus kept browsing, Sirius could hear him muttering "Not a newborn, but he can't be past a year, maybe 7 months...that should do it."

Sirius gaped at the amount of nappies Remus was piling in the trolley "Why do we -"

"Some things are better left not talked about, Pads."

Sirius wrinkled his nose and looked down at Harry "You really gonna use all them, little man?" Harry kicked his legs around at the sound of Sirius' voice and Sirius nodded "I'll take that as a yes."

******

Many hours later, Sirius collapsed on the sofa and surveyed the scene before him. Baby powder was scattered across the table. The toys they'd bought Harry were laying precariously around the floor, just waiting to cause grievous injury to him or Remus. He glanced into the bassinet where Harry was finally asleep and wondered how something so little could take up so much of his energy. He tilted his head back and sighed. Remus was in the shower, apparently Harry had a talent for projectile vomiting. It was a measure of how tired Sirius was that he couldn't bring himself to get off the sofa and join him. He ran a hand over his face, he was going to kill James when he got back. Child or no child, Sirius was going to make him suffer.

 

  
**Monday**   


Remus woke up to the sound of whimpering coming from the bassinet. He glanced at the bedside clock and groaned as the lights showed it was 6am. Harry had only woken up for a feed a few hours ago. Rubbing his eyes, he glared at Sirius who was quite happily still dead to the world, arm loosely draped across Remus' bare stomach. He sighed and crawled off the bed, watching as a frown crossed Sirius' face, his hand twitching reflexively at the loss of contact.

Lifting Harry up, he walked into the living room and sat on the sofa, switching the television on at a low volume for company. Harry was still whimpering, his fists curled up as if he was waiting to start a crying fit and Remus really didn't think his head could take that. He shifted himself to lay with his back against the armrest, Harry laying back against his thighs and started talking.

"Hey, hey, ssssh. Looks like you've finally realised the sticky situation you're in, kiddo. What did your mum talk to you about when you got like this? Sirius will talk to you about, well, things he probably shouldn't, he really has no sense of appropriateness around people. You'll realise that when myself or James yell at him around you. James, your Dad, he'll talk to you about football. And buildings. That's why he's not here with you like he should be, he's off thinking he's a brilliant person for designing big blocks of concrete. He has a big, big ego, yes he does. And when he gets back, Sirius and I are going to kill him." Remus yawned "Or maybe we'll kill him after we've got some sleep."

"Who are we killing?" Sirius stood in the doorway, hair mussed and eyes still half closed with sleep

"Did I wake you?" Remus asked as he shifted on the sofa to make room for Sirius to join them, squished in against Remus' side, his head resting on his shoulder, their legs tangling together.

"No. Woke up and you weren't there. Then I stumbled onto your master plan plotting."

"Harry and I were just discussing how best to kill his Dad."

"I support whatever plan of action you come up with," Sirius yawned "Sorry, Harry, but your Dad's a git."

They lay in silence for a while, Harry occasionally making tiny snuffling baby noises whenever Sirius stroked his head.

"Are you ok to watch him today?" Remus murmured "I've got a deadline at the end of the week, was hoping to get some work done."

"Yeah. Don't start a new job for a few weeks."

"You got a new job?"

"I told you, that play at Soho Theatre. Rehearsals start on the 17th."

"You did tell me, sorry Pads. Morning brain."

"S'ok, everything's all mushed up."

"James is back Sunday. We'll introduce him to his son, we'll find out where Lily lives, we'll get some sleep, and then we'll kill him. Everything will go back to normal."

 

  
**Tuesday**   


"Sirius, the baby lotion doesn't go IN the bath."

"It can't hurt. Unless I lose my grip and he goes sliding down the plughole."

"You'd think after this long the things that come out of your mouth wouldn't baffle me any more, but I don't even know what to say to that."

"Harry doesn't mind it, do you Harry?" Sirius stuck his tongue out at Harry, who responded by waving his chubby arms around in the water, making it splash into Sirius' face "Thanks for that, kiddo."

Remus handed him a towel, a smile on his face

"What?"

"You have suds in your hair. Honestly Pads, how much baby bath did you use?"

Sirius avoided the question by grinning up at him "But he needs to be clean, Moony! It's bad parenting not to bathe a child!"

"Bathe a child, Sirius, not send them floating away on a sea of bubbles."

"Are you trying to tell me you're not a little jealous because Harry is allowed all these bubbles and you're not?"

"No."

Sirius raised his eyebrows and looked at Harry "Harry, I think he's lying."

"Gabsh!" Harry responded

"See, Remus, he agrees with me."

"You could say 'I'm only going to feed you sprouts' and he'd agree with you. It's the tone, not the words."

"Oh Moony," he shook his head as he reached to lift Harry out of the bath "You know that's not true."

Remus wrapped a towel around Harry as Sirius held him "Really?"

"Really. Now, you take him, I need to change," he handed Harry over and pulled off his t shirt "That kid is a terror in water, I'm fucking drenched."

"Sirius!"

"What? Oh. Well, like you say, tone, not words."

 

  
**Wednesday**   


Sirius and Remus sat on a bench in the local playground, tea from the park café in their hands. The indulgent looks from mothers and nannies were making Sirius cringe and he occupied himself with getting much needed caffeine into his system. Harry was strapped to Remus' chest, looking outwards at the older kids running around.

"Bah!" he exclaimed, his fist pointing towards the swings

Remus stroked Harry's cheek "Maybe later, Harry. Right now Uncle Moony needs to finish his tea."

"Uncle Moony? Really?"

"What should I call myself when talking to him? 'The person who will be responsible for you ending up fatherless'?"

Sirius smiled "It's just...weird. Cute. But weird. Hey, does that make me Uncle Padfoot?"

"Please don't ever describe anything to do with either of us being called Uncle, 'cute'. It's just disturbing."

"So if I call you Uncle Moony, I'm not getting any tonight?"

"Sirius, we're currently sleeping with a baby in the room. You're not getting any until James gets back."

Looking down, Sirius chewed his bottom lip "We could always -"

"I am not having sex in James' bed," Remus cut him off "I know how little he changes his sheets, and how many women he's had in there."

"It was just a suggestion."

"Though..." Remus pondered

"What?"

"We could put Harry in there for a nap."

"How long do we have until then?"

Remus glanced at his watch "An hour or so."

"Right then," Sirius got up, a grin on his face "Swings with Harry and then home?"

"Shameless," Remus returned his grin "Utterly shameless."

"And you love me for it."

 

  
**Thursday**   


"This stuff is disgusting." Remus wrinkled his nose at Harry's dinner, a green mush that claimed to be vegetables.

Sirius looked over from his own dinner preparations "Almost as disgusting as what James threw up the night he graduated."

"He still can't look at Absinthe without dry heaving," Remus laughed, balancing Harry on one knee "Hopefully this Potter will be happier keeping this colour down than that one was."

"At least he's smaller. Couldn't possibly expel as much of it."

"I wouldn't bet on that, have you seen our laundry pile this week?"

"Killing James. Killing James so much when he gets home." Sirius resumed chopping potatoes with a renewed vigour

"Your Daddy is a dead man, Harry, how do you feel about that?"

"Fsssshma!" Harry exclaimed, his hand reaching for the bowl Remus was holding

"Do you think we can take that as permission?" Sirius called over "No one could get angry with us if his own son agreed with our plan."

"I think we might have to wait until Harry can actually speak to get his permission for killing his Dad, and that would really take far too long for my liking." Remus aimed the spoon at Harry's mouth "Aeroplane coming in!"

Sirius laughed "He doesn't even know what an aeroplane is!"

"It's better than 'here comes the mushy green crap that is making me nauseous'. How can he look so happy eating this stuff?"

"I don't think he cares that much as long as he can make a mess."

"Sounds like someone I know."

"Hey!"

"I was talking about James, Pads. Not everything is about you."

Sirius dropped the potatoes in the pan and shrugged "Everything is always about me, Moony, don't forget it."

Remus rolled his eyes at Harry "You'll soon learn, Harry, that it's only you and me who don't have huge egos. Your Uncle Padfoot and your Dad are lost causes." Next thing he knew, Sirius had smacked the back of his head.

 

  
**Friday**   


Harry had been crying most of the night. Teething had given him a desire to chew on anything he could get his hands on, including Sirius' hair, which had become almost permanently drool covered, but this was the first night he'd been this bad. During the day, after an hour of Harry chewing on Remus' fingers, an emergency dash had been made to the supermarket for teething rings and rusks, anything to try and stop him crying. Harry would exhaust himself, fall asleep for a while and wake up miserable again. Sirius and Remus traded off shifts, attempting to sleep themselves, all the while swearing death on James as soon as he set foot in the building. Remus thought letting Harry chew him to death was an appropriate punishment.

Sirius was laying on the sofa, Harry sprawled on his chest chewing on a red teething ring, a drool puddle forming on Sirius' shirt.

"Oh, kiddo, I'm sorry you're so miserable," Sirius spoke in a low voice, not wanting to wake Remus "I wish we could just magic this away for you" Harry made a snuffling noise as Sirius stroked his back "What should we talk about now, Harry? Want to hear about how I met your Uncle Moony?" Sirius looked down as Harry blew a bubble with his drool and chuckled

"It's a good story. No sword fights, but still a good story. It started when your Dad and I would bunk off Sixth Form. We were cocky little shi-, uh, slugs. Cocky little slugs. Didn't think we needed to be in lessons. Too young to go drinking, though, so we ended up hanging around in a coffee shop. Probably where your Dad picked up his coffee addiction. It's dark, kid, I'm telling you. We spent far too much time in that place, your Dad would try and get girls he liked to come with him and me...well, I wasn't interested in girls. Good thing too, or else I'd never have seen Remus behind the counter. Must've been going there for a good few days before I saw him. He looked at me and I was gone. Shameful. Could barely get my order out."

"Muhmuhmuhmuh." Harry babbled around the fist he'd stuck in his mouth

"That your way of saying hurry up? Cheeky sod. James teased me for ages. He was good, your Dad, actually. Not many 17 year old blokes who could handle their best mate liking other blokes, but he was never weird about it. Appreciated it. Until he started threatening to leave love notes across the coffee shop for Remus from me. One thing I found out during this, your Dad has no talent for poetry. Odes to fingers and brown hair if I recall. Terrible stuff. Still don't understand how he gets women," Sirius shook his head

"Sad thing is, it was still a better plan than what I was doing, going mute and, according to James, blushing each time Remus looked at me. One day, we were bunking off English, but I was reading Shakespeare anyway. Hamlet. Your Dad was reading Shoot. Doesn't understand culture, I'm afraid, kiddo."

"Bah."

"Exactly. I was too engrossed in the play to notice Remus come over. Placed a slice of chocolate cake on the table and said 'On the house, since you're reading my favourite play'. Your Dad's jaw dropped. That was funny. I think I managed to say thanks and smile. Your Uncle Moony winked at me! Shameless hussy, he was. Don't tell him I said that. Next day I went back without James. The place wasn't that busy, when Remus brought over my order, he sat with me. Didn't realise he was my age until we talked, turned out his parents owned the shop and he wasn't in a Sixth Form because they needed him to work there. Don't think that means he wasn't smart, Harry, because he was. Is. Smarter than me and your Dad, anyway. That went on for about a week. Now, Uncle Moony would tell you he wasn't flirting with me, but he was. He winked! No one winks at a stranger if they're not flirting! He'll say he was 'being friendly'. James threw himself a birthday party, and I invited Remus. All very teenage, Harry, and nothing you are ever to emulate when you grow up, you hear me?" Sirius shifted his legs

"There was a lot of drinking. Remus and I ended up sharing a bottle of whisky, lying on the floor of the spare room, listening to Led Zeppelin. Sometime during 'Tangerine' I realised he was holding my hand. By the end of 'That's The Way' we were kissing. And that's all I'm going to tell you about that. One day, when you need blackmail material, I'll tell you what your Dad got up to at that party."

"Aiyooo." Harry exclaimed as he dropped his teething ring, lower lip jutting out.

"Hey, hey," Sirius grabbed the ring and gave it back to Harry "Let Uncle Moony get his few hours of sleep," he rubbed Harry's back in soothing circles "We made a few mistakes over the years. Took us a couple years to sort ourselves out, my family...well, your Dad and Remus are my family now. Guess that makes you my family as well, how about that? You get dumped on a doorstep and end up with a couple of crazy Uncle types taking care of you. I think we're doing ok, though, kid. I think we're doing ok."

They were both quiet for a while, Harry's hands fisted in Sirius' shirt, Sirius smiled down at him "Have I put you to sleep, kid? If you don't wake up, looks like Remus will get the easy part of tonight. Ah well, he probably deserves it after you gnawing at his fingers. He needs those for all those pretty drawings he does. He thinks I don't know that he's been doing sketches of you. And us. All of us together. Can you keep a secret, kid? I think your Uncle Moony and I are a little bit in love with you."

 

  
**Saturday**   


Sirius stood in the doorway, watching Remus walk around the room with Harry in his arms, he recognised the song Remus was humming and chuckled to himself, drawing Remus' attention. "What?"

"Thought you told me Guns N Roses were an unsuitable band for Harry to hear?"

"Ah, but I'm humming the song, not singing it. Big difference."

Sirius walked over and snaked his arms around Remus' waist, chin resting on Remus' shoulder "Someone has to be the bad influence around here."

"And that job will always belong to you."

"Damn straight" Sirius stuck his tongue out at Harry who laughed, squirming around happily

"Padfoot, don't work him up, it's almost nap time."

"Nap time for him, treat time for me."

"Awfully sure about that, aren't you?"

Sirius placed light kisses to Remus' neck, feeling him shiver "Since you reached your deadline, pretty sure, yeah. James will be back tomorrow. Then we can do whatever we want. Got any suggestions?"

"A few. None of which are appropriate to be saying while I have a child in my arms."

Sirius pulled away and smirked "Well, I guess it really must be nap time," he took Harry from Remus' arms "Come on kiddo, can't cause mischief if you don't get some rest."

"Make sure you put the star globe on for him."

"Of course."

 

  
**Sunday**   


James unlocked the door to the flat and dumped his bags on the floor before calling out "Oi, gits, stop shagging and welcome me home!". Spotting the baby toys scattered around the room, he frowned, confused. He really hoped this wasn't some weird sex thing. "Yo, Pads, Moony, where are you? And what's with all the baby cra-" He stopped talking as Sirius came out of the bathroom, holding a bundle which contained a...baby. Definitely a baby.

"James! So good to see you. Someone left this on our doorstep, apparently he belongs to you."

James felt slightly dizzy as he looked at the child in Sirius' arms "Yeah, really funny, Sirius," he ran a hand through his hair and sat on the sofa "Whose is it, really?"

Remus came out of the kitchen with a bottle "Oh, hello James. See you've met your son."

"Son?," His eyes were wide "What? How? Who?"

Sirius laughed "I know your Dad had The Talk with you, stop acting stupid."

"But. What?"

Remus took Harry from Sirius and started feeding him, Harry's hands grasping at the bottle "Pads? Where did that note end up?"

"In the fridge."

"The fridge?"

"What? I had to keep it safe for when this happened," He wandered off to the kitchen, found the note and gave it to James with a smile "I think this should explain some things, mate."

They watched James read the note from Lily, his face turning green, red and then white "I - he - I. He's mine?"

"Yes," Remus handed Harry to James "And we've been looking after him for a week. It's your turn."

Sirius grasped Remus' hand and pulled him towards their bedroom, calling to James over his shoulder "Bond with your son, or something. We're going to bed."

"But what do I do with him?"

"You'll figure it out," Remus shouted "We had to."

******

The door slammed shut, Sirius caught Remus' eye and they both started laughing, words escaping as they sat on the floor "Did you see -"

"The look on his face?"

"Yes."

"Oh God, that was just -"

"Perfect."

Sirius collected himself "He will be ok with Harry, right?"

"Worrywort," Remus elbowed him "He'll be fine. And if he's not, Harry will soon let him know."

"Yeah, we'll hear him," Sirius rested his head on Remus' shoulder "What do you want to do?"

"You're gonna hate me, but -"

"Sleep?"

"God, yes."

******

James could dimly hear Remus & Sirius laughing, but everything faded into white noise as he stared at the kid on his lap. Harry. His son. How could this be possible? Him, James Potter, responsible for another person. Surely the fact that Harry existed was proof enough that he wasn't responsible enough to run his own life, let alone raise a child. And what about Lily? Gosh, Lily. He'd liked her, really liked her but after the project ended, she'd never called. At least he knew why, now. He gazed down at Harry, who was still sucking on his bottle, his mind racing at the mere idea that he had helped create this person. What was he meant to do with him now? Fuck.

He'd be a crappy Dad. He loved his job too much, loved being in demand, loved travelling across the world, it was who he was, what he'd always wanted. Now what? He was supposed to give all that up to raise a kid he hadn't even known he had? If Lily had been able to cope with Harry, would he even have known he was Harry's Dad? He could've gone through life without ever knowing he had a son. James groaned and hoped to all that was holy that Harry was the only one of his progeny out there. Even contemplating doing the maths on possible children made him want to throw up. As Harry dropped his bottle and started crying, James felt like joining him. When he'd left for Dubai, he'd never imagined returning to this.

Remus lay on the bed, Sirius' head resting on his chest, neither were asleep.

"Should we go and help him?"

"No."

"Padfoot..."

"He has to work out how to look after Harry by himself, Remus, you know that."

"I know. I just hate hearing him cry."

"James?"

Remus batted Sirius on the head "Harry. Idiot."

"I don't like it either, but he's not our kid."

"Yeah," Remus sighed "Still -"

"It was nice to pretend?" Sirius grasped Remus' hand and looked up at him "I know. Me too."

 

  
**Monday**   


"What do I do with this?" James shouted as he held up the dirty nappy.

"Usually they go in the bin, James, but if you have some weird plan for it then..."

"Very fucking funny, Sirius."

"Hey, no swearing around the baby!"

"What?! He can't understand me!"

"Do you want his first word to be f-u-c-k?"

"Don't care."

"Nice, James. Real nice." Sirius came over and tickled Harry's stomach "Hey, kid. Bet you wished we went through with that whole killing your dad plan, don't you?"

"Excuse me? You were planning on killing me?"

Remus placed plates of toast and eggs on the table "Yes. We had various ways of doing it. I favoured letting Harry chew you to death, it'd help with his teething and you'd be in a lot of pain."

"I don't know if it's because I was awake most of the night, or because you two are horrible friends, but I think I hate you both a lot."

"Shut up and eat your breakfast."

"Yeah, James," Sirius glared at him "How about 'thank you for keeping my child alive'?"

"Or, 'thank you for not dumping him outside a hospital'?" Remus added

"I hate you both."

******

Sirius forced James to work from home, he was determined to make James spend as much time as possible with Harry. Remus had illustrations to work on, while he was at home, he was holed up in his studio, so Sirius was left to keep an eye on James. As he lay on the floor, letting Harry attempt to climb over him, he narrowed his eyes at James, who was sitting in the furthest chair he could be in, distancing himself as much as possible from Harry.

"James!"

"What, Sirius?"

"Are you planning on spending any time with your son?"

"Not if I can help it."

Sirius grabbed Harry and stood up, balancing him on his hip as he walked over to James "Mate, come on, I know it's a shock, but it's not Harry's fault."

"I'm not blaming him."

"By refusing to play with him, you kind of are."

James spun his chair around to look at Sirius "Look, I'm not Dad material, ok? You know it, Remus knows it, hell, Harry probably knows it. I just want to ignore it all and get on with life"

"So we're going with denial, are we?"

"Realism. Not denial."

"James, you can't ignore a baby," Harry had started to fuss and Sirius gave him a stuffed black dog to chew on "Especially one who technically belongs to you and isn't going anywhere unless you have some way of tracking down his mother."

"Lily..."

"Yeah. Lily," Sirius sat on the floor with Harry "What was the story with her anyway? You never mentioned her."

"I liked her. Actually liked her. Met her on a project in Spain. She was the PA to the MD of the development lot. Long nights, too much alcohol, the usual clichés when I'm on a project, you know the drill."

"But you liked her?" Sirius grinned "I haven't heard you say that about anyone since, well, ever. For you that's as close as saying you love her."

"Alright! Just because you've been whipped since we were 17, doesn't mean we all want that."

"Fine. And I'm not whipped, well, not unless you count Remus' 25th birthday when we -"

"I'm not allowed to swear in front of Harry, but you can tell sex stories in front of him?" James stared at him in disbelief

"See, James, now you're acting like a Dad."

"Shut up."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at James and watched as Harry reached his arms up to James, who ignored him, Harry started to whimper when he realised he was being ignored

"James, just pick him up."

"And do what with him?"

"Talk to him, let him get to know your voice."

"Ok, ok," James lifted Harry on to his lap "What do you want to know about, kid?" Harry's whimpers faded away "Something about Sirius, maybe? Got lots of stories about him. Most of them about how stupid he is."

"Thin ice, Potter."

James grinned "I know. How about why we call him Padfoot?"

"Oh god. Fine, tell him while he won't remember." Sirius flopped back on the floor

"Alright. So, Harry. Sirius and I knew each other all through infant school and then all through secondary school. Now, when you grow up, you'll understand that bits of you grow faster than other. You'll get a bit uneven for a while, but if you're lucky, you'll even out by the time it matters. Sirius, here, he had a bit of a problem with his feet as he grew up."

"Hurry it up, Potter." Sirius growled

"Getting there! See, Harry, his feet grew quite a bit faster than the rest of him did. For quite a few years he was a little shrimpy thing with big clown feet, padding all over the place. So in my utter genius, I decided he should be called Padfoot. Course, once we were 15, the rest of him caught up and it wasn't that funny. The name stuck, though."

"And I've hated you ever since."

 

  
**Tuesday**   


James was on the phone to his office, Harry balanced on his hip. "Look, it's just a bit of a situation here, Peter. I'll be back at the office as soon as I can be, but anything you can't deal with, just email me," he rolled his eyes "Yes, I've still got the bag. Well, whenever you want, I'll be here." He hung up and looked at Harry "This is not going to work."

******

"Got everything?"

"Yep," Remus hefted the bag on his shoulder "We're ready to cause an absolute nuisance on the tube."

"Please, that bag is smaller than what most women bring back after a shopping trip."

"I'm still not sure why I have to carry it."

James appeared with Harry strapped to him "And I'm not sure why I have to carry this."

"Bloody hell," Sirius sighed "Could you both shut up? James, you're carrying him because, despite how much the kid probably wishes it wasn't true, he's your son. Remus, you're carrying the bag because I'm taking the photos."

"I could take the photos." Remus grumbled

"Sure, if we want fingers across faces and wobbly animals in the photos. I love you, but you're crap at photography."

"Pap!" giggled Harry

"See, even he knows" Sirius smirked "Are we all ready?" Everyone answered in the affirmative, Harry laughing along with them "Right. To the zoo!"

******

Sirius and Remus were curled up on the sofa together, the news channel flickering quietly on the television. James was crashed out in his room with Harry, both exhausted after the day at the zoo. Remus smiled at the memory of Harry's head turning wildly, trying to follow the movement of the monkeys as they jumped from branch to branch. It was almost as entertaining as Sirius posing in front of a tank in the aquarium before realising that there was a stingray behind him and jumping a foot in the air. Somehow even the knowledge that there was a pane of thick glass between them didn't reassure Sirius and he refused to go close to any of the tanks again.

Sirius glanced at Remus who was looking at him with a faint smile on his face, "What?"

"Just thinking about you and that stingray."

"That's just mean, Moony. Mean and hurtful."

"Sirius," Remus laughed "Are you pouting?"

"No." Sirius kept it up even as Remus crawled onto his lap

"Really?"

"Really."

"Because," Remus lowered his head and brushed his lips against Sirius' "I kind of think you are."

Sirius grasped Remus' thighs, holding him in place and grinned up at him "And what are you going to do about it?"

"I seem to remember James saying he'd kill us if we fucked on the sofa again."

"James," Sirius paused to lick Remus' neck "Owes us one for looking after his progeny."

"How long - ah - do you think we can keep using that against him?"

"As long as we want to."

 

  
**Wednesday**   


Remus woke to the sound of the phone ringing, Sirius resting on top of him and a crick in his neck. He blinked a few times before realising they'd fallen asleep on the sofa and the phone was on the table. Reaching over, he grabbed it and answered "Hello?"

"Is this James Potter?"

Remus ran his fingers through Sirius' hair "Nope, this is his roommate, who is this?"

"Kings College Hospital. Is Mr Potter there?"

Remus sat up, dislodging Sirius who immediately started swearing, Remus waved a hand at him "Is everything ok?"

"I can't say, sir. I do need to speak to Mr Potter"

"Ok, um, hold on a moment." Remus put the phone on the table and pulled his boxers on

"What is it?" Sirius grumbled

"Hospital," Remus picked the phone up "They want to talk to James."

"What?"

"Yeah, I know. Be back in a moment."

He opened the door to James' room, smiling for a second at Harry sleeping in his bassinet before shaking James.

"James, James, wake up, phone."

James stirred, not opening his eyes "If it's Peter, tell him to call later."

"It's the hospital."

"What?" James reached his arm out and Remus placed the phone in his hand "Hello? This is James Potter."

Remus watched James listen to whatever the person was saying, his face was scrunched up with concern

"How did it happen? How can you not know? What do you mean he's not conscious? I- yes, ok. He has a mother, but she's in a home. I can be down there soon. The police? Uh. Ok." James hung up and gave the phone back to Remus.

"James?" Remus asked, tentatively "What happened?"

"Huh? Oh. Peter. He got attacked last night. Beaten badly, he's still unconscious. I'm his emergency contact, so they called me."

"What? Fuck."

"Yeah. Look, I know I'm not meant to ask, but can you guys watch Harry today? I've got to go down to Kings and I don't know how long it'll take. The police are involved and I think I have to talk to them."

"Of course we will. Look, I'll go tell Pads what's going on, you get dressed."

Sirius had made it back to their bedroom and was laying on the bed when Remus came in. As Remus sat on the bed, Sirius wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"What's happened?" he asked

"Peter was attacked. He's unconscious."

"Peter? Who would want to attack him?"

Remus sighed "I guess that's what they want to find out. I said we'd watch Harry, James has got to go to the hospital, talk to the police."

"Hey," Sirius crawled round onto Remus' lap "It's ok. I'm sure Peter was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They'll find out what happened, and Peter will wake up. It'll be fine"

"It's just the violence, Pads. I don't like it."

"I don't either, but we can't change it. You know that."

"Of course, just - I mean - with Harry and all," Remus sighed "And with the things that happened before, to both of us, and I know it's rare, but this is just -"

"Too close to home again. I know, Moony, I know"

"Can we stop talking about it now? At least until James has any information."

Sirius placed a kiss on his forehead "Ok. Come on, let's go and get Harry from James so he can leave."

 

  
**Thursday**   


James had been forced back to the office because of Peter's accident, leaving Sirius and Remus with Harry during the day. Peter was still unconscious and James still had no idea what had happened. After his talk with the police the day it happened, he thought that there was something they were holding back from him, but he couldn't begin to think what it would be. Peter had kept any personal issues private, he really had no idea what the man got up to in his time off. He wondered what Harry was getting up to with Remus and Sirius, it was strange to think he missed him. Less than a week ago, he hadn't even known he had a kid and now he was sitting at his desk wishing he could be home letting Harry pull at his hair. He was cracked. Totally cracked.

******

"Where did James put that rattly thing Harry likes?"

"You know as well as I do that does not narrow it down."

"The one with the bells inside. And dinosaur print."

Remus looked up from his desk to see Sirius holding a pouting Harry "Let me guess, someone isn't satisfied with the toys you actually can find?"

"Yep. So, that rattly thing?"

"I think he had it in that black bag when he moved Harry's stuff in to his room."

"Can you go look? Please Moony? If I put him down he starts crying."

Remus smiled at him "Course, Pads." He got up, placed a kiss on Harry's forehead and wandered into James' room.

Christ, what a mess. James had never been the neatest person, but Harry's clothes and toys in addition to James' usual crap made navigating the room a minefield. He spotted the bag by the bed and sat down to open it. Instead of the toys and extra nappies he was expecting, there were blocks wrapped in foil. Frowning, he lifted one out and took the foil off. Fuck. Unless James was looking to open a bakery, this was cocaine. What the fuck was James doing with this amount of coke? They'd all messed around with it when they were younger, parties where someone offered a line, but it was never anything more than that. This was a lot of coke, this was serious.

"Moony, what's taking -" Sirius appeared at the doorway, mouth dropping when he saw what Remus was holding. He met Remus' eyes "Is that what I think it is?"

"I think so, yeah."

"And is there more?"

"Yeah."

"All in James' bag?"

"I must've looked in the wrong bag. Pads, what are we going to do?"

"Can you - can you take Harry for a moment?"

Remus stumbled as Sirius roughly handed Harry over. Sirius paced back and forth for a few seconds before he looked at the wall and raised his fist "Sirius, no!" Remus grabbed his arm "Don't. Just. Please. Calm down."

Sirius paused and dropped his arm "Fuck!" he yelled before looking at Remus "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry."

"I know, Sirius. I know."

"He brought this stuff into our home, Remus. Even if it was before he knew about Harry, he brought it here. How could he do that?"

"We don't know it was like that - I mean - we don't even know what it's doing here."

"It's in his room. If he didn't bring it in, how else did it get here? Because I know neither of us brought it in."

"We're just going to have to wait for him to come back. We'll ask him about it. Come on, let's get out of here for a while and not think about this. We can take Harry to the park or something."

"Pak!" Harry interjected, prompting a smile from Sirius

Remus shifted Harry on to his hip and started walking out of James' room "Yep, Harry, park with Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony. Come on, Pads, let's get his stuff together."

"Yeah, ok." Sirius took one last look at the drugs in the bag before following Remus, closing the door firmly behind him.

******

James walked into the flat, looking around the living room for everyone "Guys?" he called "Where are you? I got Chinese!"

"Kitchen." yelled Sirius

"Hey, where's Har-" James glanced at the table "What the hell is that?"

"I would've thought you could tell us," Remus said, evenly "It was in your room."

"My room? My room?" He put the food on the counter "Are you insane?"

"No!" Sirius shouted "That would be you! Bringing drugs into our home, James, what the fuck were you thinking?"

"Sirius," Remus touched his arm "Calm down, you'll wake Harry."

"Fine. But he has some explaining to do."

"Explaining to do? You seriously believe I have something to do with this?"

"Well it wasn't either of us, James," Remus said "And it was in your room, so, yes, you have some explaining to do and we'll listen. Won't we Sirius?"

"Yeah. Whatever."

James ran a hand through his hair "Is that the bag it was in?"

"Yes. I thought it had some of Harry's toys in it, hence why I was going though it"

"That's not my bag. It's Peter's."

"Peter's?" Sirius looked at him "Then what are you doing with it?"

"He asked me to bring it here," James shrugged "Said it needed to get back to London quickly and he was due to stay in Dubai a little longer, so I took it for him."

"How the hell did you not get arrested?"

James let out a hollow laugh "I - I was on a private plane back. A sheik offered it. Peter was flying commercial. Fuck. I swear I didn't know what was in it. I just thought I was doing him a favour."

"Some favour, James."

"Yeah. I'm sorry for this, I really am," James looked lost "I have no idea what to say."

Sirius shrugged "S'ok. Sorry I accused you of being a drug smuggler."

They sat, looking at the pile of drugs in the middle of the table. Remus glanced at the others before saying "Now that we know who it belongs to, what are we going to do?" Neither James, nor Sirius had an answer.

 

  
**Friday**   


James had called after visiting Peter that morning, the hospital didn't know when he'd wake up, and a detective had asked to interview James again. For now, they had stashed the drugs in Remus' studio, since it was the only room with a lockable storage space. Remus didn't want to be around the drugs at all and found himself putting off his work as he watched Harry and Sirius. "Missh, missh!" Harry babbled excitedly as he played with his light up truck, Sirius laughing at the noises the truck made. Remus absent-mindedly sketched Harry and Sirius as they played, his mind elsewhere.

******

James wished Peter would wake up so he could just ask him about the drugs, but according to the doctor he spoke with, that wasn't likely to happen any time soon. The sadness he felt at Peter being in the hospital faded in comparison to the anger he felt when he thought about the situation that Peter had forced them all into. He was in the middle of going over blueprints of the building in Dubai when his secretary buzzed in.

"There's a Detective McGonagall here for you, sir."

"Send her in, thanks Grace."

James was just putting the blueprints away when the Detective came in. She sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Mr Potter, I understand Mr Pettigrew has not woken up yet?"

"Not yet, no. I checked in with the hospital this morning, there was no change."

"Yes, well, my sympathies," she inclined her head "Have you thought any more about why anyone would want to attack your friend?"

"No, I mean, as I've said previously, we've only known each other for a few years. Workmates more than friends if anything."

"Yet he had you as his emergency contact?"

"I believe he changed it after his mother went into a home. I was happy to do it, obviously I never thought a situation like this would occur."

"I see. Have any of Mr Pettigrew's friends been around to see how he is? People you don't know?"

"I don't think - oh. Please hold on a moment" James buzzed Grace back in "Grace, would you please tell the Detective about the man who came in looking for Peter yesterday."

"Certainly, Mr Potter," Grace turned towards Detective McGonagall "He came in around eleven, I wasn't quite sure who he was."

"You'd never seen him before?"

"No. He said he was an old friend of Peter's, that he was in the area and wanted to meet up with him."

"Did you tell him about Mr Pettigrew being in hospital?"

"Was I not meant to? I didn't mean any harm, I just thought - I mean, if he was a friend."

"Calm down Grace," James interjected "You didn't do anything wrong."

"You did nothing wrong, Miss Wilkins. Did he leave a business card? A name?"

"He didn't, no. But I went out for a smoke not long after he left and overheard him answering his phone. He said his name was Theodore Nott."

"Theodore Nott?" Detective McGonagall rose from her chair "Thank you Miss Wilkins. You've been very helpful."

"Does that mean something to you?" James asked

"Mr Nott is a person of interest in the investigation."

"Is it - are the people who work here safe?"

Detective McGonagall gave a tight smile "I assure you, you're in no danger. Please contact me if you hear from Mr Nott, or anyone else looking for Mr Pettigrew, again. You have my card."

James rose to see her out, closing the door after her and Grace. He sat back down in his chair and ran his hands through his hair, swearing softly. He really had no idea what to do. Who on earth was Theodore Nott and what did he have to do with Peter's attack? James looked at the clock, it was barely 3. He just wanted to go home.

******

"We need to talk," James was barely in the front door before he spoke. He picked Harry up and sat on the sofa with him before carrying on "The detective came to speak to me today. After all the fuss yesterday, I'd forgotten to tell you that someone came looking for Peter."

"Looking for Peter?" Remus queried

"Said he was an old friend, but wouldn't leave a name or number. Grace overheard him saying his name on the phone, told the detective today. She said he was a person of interest. I think this is bigger than any of us realised."

"What was the name?"

"Theodore Nott."

Sirius looked up from making faces at Harry "Theodore Nott?"

"Yeah. You know who he is?"

"Drug dealer. Remember McKinnon?"

"She was in that soap, wasn't she? Pretty girl."

"Pretty girl with a heroin problem. Didn't realise until I saw her at a party, you remember Moony? The post BAFTA bash at Flitwick's house?"

"Oh, yeah," Remus frowned "Wait, she was the girl who almost drowned?"

"That was her. Overheard the ambulance guys as they were reviving her, track marks between her toes."

"I only remember her a bit, saw her dancing at the party. How do you know Nott was her dealer?"

"Saw him come out of the bathroom about 10 minutes before she was found. Thought they were hooking up, didn't put two and two together until she'd been carted off in the ambulance," Sirius' eyes were hard "He's a nasty little shit, James."

James sighed "And what do you want to bet the drugs Peter made me bring back were meant to go to Nott?"

"But if they were for Nott, why was Peter beaten up?"

"Maybe they thought Peter was going to screw them," Remus pointed out "We don't know what Peter was going to do. He could've been planning on selling it himself."

"Peter?" James snorted "He's hardly a mastermind."

"Obviously. Whatever it was he was planning on doing, it backfired and, y'know what? I don't want to get involved."

"Moony?" Sirius looked at him "What is it?"

"This has gone too far. I say we call the detective, show her what we found in the bag and leave them to sort the mess out."

"We can't" James said "I'm the one who brought it into the country."

"You didn't know what you were carrying."

"I don't think that matters to them!" James looked down at Harry "They'd take him away, Remus. I can't - I won't."

"Ok," Remus sighed "How about if we call a lawyer first. Then we'll know where we stand. If the police want Nott so badly, I doubt they'd care about you."

Sirius nodded "I'm with Moony, we'll call Alphard."

"Your Uncle?" James asked "Are you sure we should involve your family in this?"

"Dick. Alphard's decent. Shunned the family firm, went into pro-bono work. Only sane member of the family apart from me."

"Is it just me, James, or is that not a reassuring statement?"

"You can both fuck off," Sirius grinned "I'll call him?"

"Please. Thanks Sirius."

"You're family, James. Don't forget it."

 

  
**Saturday**   


True to his word, Alphard came over bright and early the next morning, which left Remus mumbling about Blacks and their deranged need to be awake before a reasonable time. He left Alphard to discuss matters with James and Sirius in the kitchen and took Harry into the living room, sitting him down on the floor with his toys. As he sat on the sofa, he could hear snatches of the conversation coming through the door and shook his head.

Remus had made the decision to stay out of it, he would support whatever course of action they came up with, but he didn't want to be involved any more than he had to be. Harry was reaching his hands up and smiling at him, Remus laughed, slid onto the floor and moved forward.

"What's up, kid?" He reached for Harry's colourful building blocks "Want to build?"

"Lib!"

"Ok, you take that one." he handed Harry a blue block and watched as he started to put them together. A yellow block went on top of the blue one, and a green one was placed next to the blue one, Harry paused after that and glanced at Remus, his little forehead frowning slightly "How about a red?" Remus handed it over to Harry who stuck it in his mouth "So red is for chewing?" Remus laughed "Good to know." He sat watching Harry pile blocks on top of each other, trying to ignore the voices coming from the kitchen.

It took an hour before Alphard, James and Sirius came out of the kitchen. Sirius came out first and sat on the floor behind Remus, his back against the sofa. He pulled Remus backwards until he was sitting between Sirius' legs.

"Hey." he whispered in Remus' ear

"How'd it go?" Remus asked, leaning into the embrace "Did Alphard come up with something?"

"I think so. He's going over details with James now."

"You don't need to be in there?"

"Don't want to be. Just want it over with."

Remus twisted his head to look at Sirius "It will be."

"Buh!" Harry exclaimed as he threw his fist into his stack of blocks, giggling as they crashed down

Sirius laughed "Think that's a comment on what his Dad does for a living?"

"Career as a demolition expert in his future, definitely."

 

  
**Sunday**   


"Don't open that!" Sirius yelled at Remus "You'll upset the temperature and ruin the roast."

Remus raised an eyebrow at him as he stepped away from the oven "You're being a little obsessive about this, Pads."

"No I'm not."

James looked up from feeding Harry "You kind of are, look, Harry's not making that much of a fuss about his food."

"James, if you compare that jar of mushed up cottage pie to my Sunday roast again, I will force feed you the jar of vegetable lasagne that even Harry hates."

"Yeah, not obsessive at all," Remus muttered, grabbing a beer from the fridge before exchanging a grin with James "So how long until we get to eat?"

Sirius sat down and snatched the beer from Remus' hand, took a swig and gave it back "About an hour."

James aimed another spoonful at Harry's mouth "Thanks for doing this, guys."

"Doing what?"

"The roast, the park earlier, making today normal."

"It is normal, James."

"But with tomorrow -"

"Don't," Remus cut him off "Alphard will be here and he thinks it'll work. Let's just enjoy this evening and deal with tomorrow when it gets here."

"Moony's right, James. And anyway, I'm not having you ruin my roast with your gloomy mood, so bloody well cheer up."

"It's a good job I know that's your version of supportive, or else I'd probably punch you."

"No violence at the dinner table," Remus interjected with a smile on his face "And definitely no violence in front of Harry."

  
**Monday**   


Alphard arrived at the flat an hour before Detective McGonagall rang their doorbell. She raised an eyebrow at him when he answered the door.

"Alphard Black? Why am I not surprised?"

"Now, now Minerva, I'm here in a professional capacity, just like you," He gestured to her "Please come in."

Detective McGonagall walked into the house and looked around “Where is Mr Potter?”

“In the kitchen.” Alphard stalked off towards the kitchen, not waiting to see if she would be following.

James, Sirius and Remus were all sitting around the table, Harry was down for his nap. The drugs were still locked away, they weren't even going to make mention of them until McGonagall had given them assurances about what would happen.

“I understand your investigation into Mr Pettigrew's assault isn't making much progress.” Alphard said

“How would you understand that, Alphard?”

“I have my sources, Minerva, as you well know.”

James couldn't help but notice that the Detective looked very unimpressed with Alphard “Detective, we may know something.”

“Mr Potter, if you know something, it's your duty to inform us.”

“Hold on,” Alphard interrupted “No one is saying anything until we have some assurances about what will happen to Mr Potter here. Now, we both know that your investigation has involved Theodore Nott, but you've been having trouble connecting Mr Nott and Mr Pettigrew.”

“Go on.”

“Knowing the business Mr Nott is in, you can infer my meaning when I say that we may have something that would help you with that. Mr Potter was tricked by someone he considered a friend. He had no knowledge of the situation, nor any involvement, until he saw what he had been tricked into. Due to the violence involved in this case, and since he is the father of a young son, he did not come forward with this information sooner for fear of what could arise if he did.”

“Whilst some may find your pontificating interesting, Alphard, I would appreciate it if you would arrive at your point sooner rather than later.”

“I always admired your straight talking, Minerva. Right. What we have will help you with your investigation. It will tie Nott to Pettigrew and you can do with it what you will. With this information, there will be no charges against Mr Potter. As I have said, he knew nothing about this situation.”

“Perhaps you had better show me exactly what it is you have for me.”

“Do we have an agreement?”

Detective McGonagall pursed her lips before agreeing. At this, James rose and went to fetch the drugs from Remus' studio. He came back and put the bag on the table, unzipped it and gestured to McGonagall to look. She stood and looked in the bag, her eyes widening slightly

“Mr Potter, how did you come to be in possession of this?”

James looked at Alphard, who nodded, before he started speaking “As you know, Peter and I work together. We were on a project in Dubai a few weeks ago, I was leaving before Peter and he asked me to take a bag of his for him. I didn't think anything of it and agreed. It wasn't until I found out what was in the bag that I realised why he'd asked me to take it. I was flying private, he was flying commercial.”

“When did you discover what the bag contained?”

“I actually found what was in the bag” Remus said “I was looking for a particular toy Harry wanted and believed it to be in a bag in James' room. Instead I found the drugs.”

“Mr Lupin and Mr Black both agreed it would be best to wait until Mr Potter could explain the presence of drugs in the flat instead of jumping to conclusions.” Alphard said

Sirius nodded “We didn't know what to think, so we wanted to talk to James first.”

“When I got home, they confronted me and I realised what Peter had tricked me into doing, none of us had any idea what was going on until you mentioned Theodore Nott.”

“Yes, Mr Nott,” McGonagall said “I am curious as to how you know about Mr Nott's business.”

“That would be me,” Sirius said “I'm an actor. Over the years I've seen Theodore at parties, seen him dealing to people I know. Once James told us his name, I put what had happened to Peter and the drugs together and called Uncle Alphard for advice. James was worried about what could happen to him.”

“Which,” Alphard interjected “He has no reason to worry about now, right Minerva.”

“You can restrain yourself, Alphard, I believe Mr Potter's story and have no interest in investigating his involvement further.” McGonagall pulled out her phone and excused herself from the room

Alphard smiled “That went ok, boys.”

“Thanks Alphard, really” James grinned “I feel a hell of a lot better now.”

“You're welcome. Just, all of you, do me a favour?”

“What?”

“Try not to get involved with any more international drug smuggling rings?”

“We didn't mean to get involved with this one!” Sirius protested

“Just promise.”

“Fine. Promise.”

 

  
**Tuesday**   


Since McGonagall had taken possession of the drugs, the atmosphere in the flat had become far lighter. While the case was still on-going, they had no involvement in it. James was back at work. Having informed the partners of his firm what had happened, he was involved in searching for Peter's replacement. The doctors still did not know if he would wake up or not, but James knew that if he did, his future would be behind bars, not working at their firm.

Sirius was enjoying his last free week before the rehearsals for his next play began. He spent his days looking after Harry. Currently he was lying on the sofa, with Harry sitting up on his chest, waiting for Remus to take a break from his work to join them in a trip to the park.

“Harry, Harry!” Sirius held up the cuddly black dog and waved it at Harry who smacked his lips against the dog, making Sirius laugh. Harry grabbed the dog and stuffed an ear into his mouth. “Lovely, Harry. Very elegant.” Harry grinned around the drool covered ear.

“He looks like James does when he eats pasta” Remus smiled at Harry “Here, Harry, have a carrot stick instead,” He handed Harry the carrot stick and took the dog from him “Far tastier than a stuffed animal. No matter what Uncle Padfoot might say.”

“Hey! I eat vegetables. Just think carrots are wrong, that's all. All long and orange. Vegetables shouldn't be like that.”

“Right. Could you at least try not to pass on your irrational feelings about carrots to Harry?”

“They're not irrational! Anyway, he's gnawing on that thing like a rabbit, he's fine.”

“He's also getting carrot bits and drool on your shirt.”

Sirius looked down and sighed “Guess you and me are taking a shower before the park, Harry. Remember, it's all Uncle Moony's fault for giving you carrots.”

 

  
**Wednesday**   


“Well done, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed as Harry pulled himself into a standing position, his hands gripping Sirius' legs. He winced as Harry fell back down on his bottom and waited for him to cry. When it didn't come, Sirius laughed and swooped him onto his lap “Good lad! Come on, sit up here with me until your Dad gets out of the meeting. Here, amuse yourself.” Harry took the light up rattle and shook it for a while before stuffing it into his mouth.

“Oh gosh” James' assistant had come back from her break and was smiling down at Harry “Is he yours, Sirius?”

“What? No! That's not even - he belongs to your boss,” he grinned “Can't you tell from the hair?”

Grace laughed “There's a certain resemblance, now that you mention it. What's his name?”

“Harry.”

“Hi Harry. Do you want me to tell James you're here?”

“It's ok, he knows what time we're meeting. I'm a little early, had to get out of the house so Remus could get some work done.”

“Alright. Let me know if you need anything.”

******

James and Sirius came stumbling through the door, loaded down with Harry and grocery bags. “Remus! Oi, Moony, come help us!” James yelled

Remus came out of his studio, there were dots of black ink on his hands and face, Sirius smiled fondly as Remus took some bags out of his hands before placing a light kiss on his cheek “Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” Sirius followed him into the kitchen “Looks like you got your work done.”

“What?” Remus looked at his hands and frowned “Oh – yeah, I guess. Almost all done, I'll finish it up tomorrow.”

“Not tomorrow,” James said “I've come up with a plan.”

“I really don't like the sound of this.”

Sirius looked up from stacking the fridge “No, it's good, Moony, honest.”

“Now I'm really unconvinced.”

Sirius threw a lettuce at him “Git.”

“No food fights!” Remus yelled as he ducked the lettuce

“If you've both finished acting like children,” James called from the doorway, Harry on his hip “Can we talk about my idea now?”

“Sorry James, go on.”

“You know the room we have that's full of all the crap we couldn't decide what to do with?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I was thinking we turn it into a room for Harry. I mean – it looks like he's here for a while and I think it'd be good for him to have his own room, a cot as well. He can't go on sleeping in that bassinet forever and, I just – I want to make this real for him.”

“I may be in shock” Remus said “Are you, James Potter, actually taking responsibility for something? Of your own accord?”

“Oh shut up!” James grinned “Well, what do you think?”

“It's a great idea, James. Really, I'm proud of you.”

“Bah Bah Da Bah!”

Sirius laughed “I think Harry's proud of you as well.”

“Are you?” James lifted Harry above his head “Are you proud of your Dad, Harry?” Harry giggled and James handed him off to Remus who bounced him a few times and then flew him over to Sirius

“Ooof, crash landing, Harry!” Sirius carried him to the table and stood him up, holding his hands as Harry jigged up and down a few times before James came over and picked him up again.

“I've taken the rest of the week off work so we can get on with doing the room. The whole Peter situation has thrown the managing team in to panic, so the company is kind of on lockdown.”

“Finding out one of their stars smuggled drugs a bit of a shock?” Sirius smirked

“You could say that, yeah. Think they're just trying to find out if anyone else was doing it.”

“Never been so glad I'm an actor.”

“Yeah, because there's no dodgy dealings involved in that industry.”

 

  
**Thursday**   


“Hah! Look, it's you with pink hair!” Remus was sat in the middle of the spare room, looking through a box of photos they'd found “Remember? For that indie film about punk?”

“Oh god, I thought I got rid of all of them!” Sirius made a grab for the photo and Remus fell backwards, his arm outstretched holding the photo away from Sirius

“No! This is mine to keep,” He squirmed as Sirius tried to hold him down “I'm going to make copies, blow it up to the size of a wall – ah, fuck, Sirius!” he yelled as Sirius bit his shoulder “That is not playing fair.”

“Who said we were playing fair?”

“In that case - “ Remus dropped the photo and pulled Sirius down to him, kissing him thoroughly

Sirius pulled back a little “Ok, that's really not fair.” he muttered

“Seriously, I leave you alone for five minutes to put Harry down and you end up snogging?” James stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips leading both Remus and Sirius to burst out laughing.

“If you could just -”

“See your face, oh James -”

“Fuck you both. And get up, we've got a lot of work ahead of us.”

******

“Jaaaaames, can we stop now?” Sirius was resting against the wall, thumbing through paint samples “It's dark and we've done all we can today. The room is clear, and clean. If you're making me face Mothercare tomorrow, I want pizza and sleep.”

“And sex.” Remus added

“That too. But not from James.”

“I should hope not” James snorted “As if I'd let you near my arse.”

“As if I'd want near your arse.”

“We are not having this argument again,” Remus insisted “Go and call Dominos, James. Usual order.”

“Fine. You know you both want my arse anyway.”

Sirius threw the paint samples at him as he left “Egotistical prat.”

 

  
**Friday**   


“What kind of cot are we looking for?”

“One unlike the one my mother put me in.” Sirius muttered

“Do you expect me to believe that your mother ever set foot in a Mothercare?”

“You're right, hey, how about this one? It's got these little ball things at either end for him to play with.”

“It looks good to me.”

“Where's James? He's the one who should be picking this stuff.”

“I think he's somewhere in the clothing section.”

“The man who wears the same pair of jeans for weeks is in the clothing section?”

“He saw a Superman onesie.”

“Oh crap. Right, we'll come back for the crib,” Sirius grabbed Remus' hand and pulled him away “We are not letting Harry live in mock superhero clothing for the rest of his life. We have to get him proper clothes, Moony. Trousers and shirts and jumpers and things. How will Harry ever have his dignity if we let James dress him?”

******

“Moony, look, a bubble maker for bathtime!”

“Sirius, you're starting to attract strange looks,” Remus groaned “Would you please be quiet?”

“But Harry would love it!”

“I'm sure he would, but your excitement is worrying me. As is the fact that we still haven't found James and Harry.”

“Tried calling them?”

“No signal.”

“Oh, wait, I think I see James' head!” Sirius stalked towards the buggy section where James was looking very confused “Oi, James, we've been looking all over for you.”

“There's too many.”

Remus joined them “Too many what?”

“Buggies. Look at them all.”

Remus and Sirius looked around, there were indeed rows and rows of buggies “Um.”

“How am I meant to pick just one?”

“I think we can rule out that horrible purple one,” Sirius pointed “And the green one. And the leopard print one, christ, who thought that was a good idea?”

“That leaves us with, uh, about 30 more to choose from.” Remus winced

The three men looked at each other and sighed. A sales assistant appeared “Can I help you with anything?”

James looked like he wanted to kiss her “Yes! Please!”

 

  
**Saturday**   


“Well?”

“Moony, it's amazing,” Sirius looked in awe at the nightscape Remus had painted on one wall of Harry's nursery, the deep blues of the sky contrasted with the bright moonlight and silver stars dotted across the entire wall. A group of Chinese lanterns were scattered just above the height of where Harry's cot would reach. “I can't believe you can do this in one day.”

“Think I lie when I say I'm working?” Remus teased, his arm round Sirius' waist.

“No!” Sirius turned his head towards Remus, reached and pushed his hair out of his eyes “You're a very talented man, Moony.”

Remus grinned “Hopefully Harry likes it.”

“It has shiny bits, and some colours, he'll like it.”

“Shall we go and get James?”

“Not yet” Sirius pulled Remus against him “Just let me look at it a while longer.”

******

“James, are you sure you can do this yourself?” Sirius looked dubiously at James wrestling with the cot pieces “Your son is going to be sleeping in this, remember.”

“I design skyscrapers, I can put together a cot.”

“You design skyscrapers, you don't build them. Does that really go in that hole?”

James brandished a screwdriver at Sirius “If you don't start being helpful, I'm going to stick this in your eye.”

“I am being helpful, James. You don't want Harry sleeping in a death trap now, do you?”

“One more word, Sirius. One more word.”

******

“Who bought this for him?” James held up a stuffed Eeyore.

“I did” Sirius answered “Why?”

“Eeyore is a manic depressive, not to mention so incredibly in the closet.”

“Did you just call Eeyore gay?” Sirius' eyes widened “I'm traumatised, James. Traumatised. Honestly, you, a father, making a beloved childhood character all about sex. Disgraceful.”

“James,” Remus choked back a laugh “I don't think Harry is going to pick up on any of that. It's a cuddly toy, he'll drool on it and hug it. Possibly throw up on it. You're overthinking this.”

Sirius nodded “Put him back, James. Right next to that horrible valentines reject Arsenal bear”

“Valentines reject?”

“It's white with red bits, what else would you call it?”

“Arsenal colours.”

“Poor, deluded James,” Sirius sighed “Harry is so lucky he has me to guide him.”

******

The three of them were on the floor in Harry's finished room. Harry wouldn't be sleeping in there until the paint fumes had dissipated, they had the window wide open. Sirius looked around at the room. Remus' nightscape drew your eye as soon as you came in, the other walls were a paler blue and Sirius had potato printed black moons and stars across them randomly. They'd switched the star globe on and Remus was laying with his head in Sirius' lap, watching the patterns dance across the ceiling, a peaceful look on his face. James had put Harry down in his room and was fiddling with the baby monitor, listening to Harry babble himself to sleep.

“James, your kid is really chatty.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I guess.”

“Something wrong?”

“Just wondering what we're going to do now.”

“Well,” Sirius paused, running his fingers through Remus' hair “I imagine we'll finish this pizza and go to bed.”

“Pillock. I meant what do we do during the days? I'll have to be back at work soon, you're starting rehearsals on Monday and Remus can't look after Harry and work.”

“When the play starts, I can be at home during the day anyway, and when I'm not, we can hire someone.”

“This is just – I mean, there's three of us and we can barely make it work. How did Lily cope?”

“She didn't, mate. That's why we have him.”

“I thought she – I couldn't believe that she'd give him up just like that, but this is hard. It's really hard, isn't it?”

“Yeah. S'why you're lucky you've got us, isn't he Moony?” Sirius poked Remus' cheek

“What?” Remus yawned “Did you just poke me?”

“Were you asleep?”

“Mmm. Y'fingers felt nice. Comfy. Tired.”

“Oh no, you're not sleeping here,” Sirius shoved Remus off his lap, ignoring his yell of discomfort, and stood up reaching his hands down to him “Come on. Bed”

Remus got up sleepily and draped himself over Sirius “Oof. Heavy fucker.”

“Oi,” Remus pinched Sirius' side “Calling me fat?”

“Never, Moony” Sirius grinned “James, you going to bed, or what?”

“In a bit. Just want to get my head together.”

“Ok. Listen, you're doing the right thing here. You know that, right?”

James smiled “Thanks Pads. Night.”

“G'night.”

 

  
**Sunday**   


“Foo! Foo!” Harry was sitting in his high chair bashing his fists against the table.

“Think he's trying to say food or Padfoot?”

“Obviously he's trying to say Padfoot,” Sirius smirked “Really Moony, how is that even a question?”

“I forget how big your ego is sometimes,” Remus muttered, grinning at Harry “Here Harry, apple slice?” Harry grasped the slice of apple and gnawed at it. Most of it fell out of his mouth, but he waved his hand at Remus, who gave him another slice “Is James up yet?”

“He went to the gym before you woke up, should be back soon.”

“Think he's ok?”

Sirius rocked back on his chair “Yeah. I think he didn't realise how much he'd love Harry and now he's scared of fu – uh, screwing it up. Most responsibility he's ever had in life.”

“Most responsibility any of us have ever had in life.”

“It's not bad though, is it?”

Remus laughed as Harry played with the bits of chewed up apple “No, it's not bad at all.”

******

James was in the middle of explaining to a very bored Sirius why Arsenal had every chance of winning the Premiership next season when the doorbell rang. Sirius jumped off the sofa “I'll get it!” he yelled, running to the door. Honestly, all these years and James still hadn't realised that Sirius didn't give a stuff about football. He opened the door.

“Hello.”

A young woman with red hair looked at him “Hello. Is James Potter here?”

“Um. Yeah. Who are you?”

“I'm Lily Evans.”

“Oh.” Sirius froze

“Sirius?” James called “Who's at the door?” He came over and stopped dead when he saw Lily

“Hello James.”

“Lily. What – I mean, hi. Why are you here?”

“Could I come in?”

“Yes, yeah, come in.” James and Sirius stepped back to let Lily in. She looked around the living room, at Harry's toys scattered around the room, her eyes settling on the framed sketches of Harry that Remus had drawn.

“Lily, have a seat,” James gestured to the sofa “Sirius, get Remus, would you?” Sirius nodded and walked off after glancing at Lily one more time.

Lily sat stiffly on the sofa “I expect you want to know what I'm doing here.”

“Actually I was wondering why you left our child on my doorstep with nothing but a note. And also, how you knew where I lived?”

“I fooled your office into giving me your address.”

Sirius came back into the room, bringing Remus with him. Remus sat in the armchair, Sirius sitting on the floor between his legs. James nodded at them before introducing them to Lily. She smiled at them, Remus returned her smile politely, Sirius didn't bother.

“But – Lily, I'm not judging you, but why leave him on my doorstep? You had no way of knowing if I was home, which I wasn't by the way. Remus and Sirius had to take care of him for a week before I got back.”

“I know it was wrong, James, but it got too much. I couldn't cope any more.”

“What about your family?”

“When I told them, they, uh, disowned me. Said that any child brought into the world out of wedlock was a bastard and they'd never accept him. Or me. They said that neither of us existed to them.”

“Fuck, Lily. I'm sorry, really I am.”

Lily looked up at James “I tried without them, the pregnancy was fine, but I had to go back to work to provide for Harry, then all my money went on childcare. And he'd cry at night, I couldn't sleep when he cried and my work started to suffer, and I barely saw him because of the hours I was working and then I just thought – I thought -”

“That I should take him.”

“I know it was wrong, James, and I'm sorry. I apologise to all of you for doing this. I was losing my mind and it was the only thing I could think of,” Lily sat stoically, tears running down her face “I felt so guilty.”

“Here,” Sirius gruffly handed over a box of tissues “And you don't have to apologise. We got used to him, didn't we?”

“We did,” Remus agreed “Harry is a wonderful child. We all love him very much.”

“I know I have no right, but can I see him?”

“You're his mother, Lily,” James said “You have every right. But he is napping at the moment. So,” he got up “Want to join us for lunch?”

Lily smiled and nodded “Please.”

The four of them settled around the kitchen table. Conversation was stilted to begin with, but after Lily asked who had done the sketches of Harry, it started to flow. When they started to hear Harry stirring through the baby monitor, Sirius went to bring him into the kitchen. As Sirius handed him over to Lily, he felt a pang in his heart. What was going to happen now? Apparently Remus was on the same wavelength; as soon as they were settled back in the kitchen, Harry sucking on a bottle, he asked Lily what her plans were.

“I've been offered a position by a friend who needs some help. She runs her own business and needs a PA, she said she'd be fine with me having Harry around.”

“And, is that in London?” Remus asked

“Oh. Um, actually, it's in Somerset. Bridgewater. I'll be moving next month after seeing out my notice at my current job.”

“Somerset?” Sirius said quietly “That's 3 hours away,” He looked at James, his face stricken “James? Say something.”

James didn't say a word in response. He avoided eye contact with everyone and walked out of the kitchen. The next thing they heard was his bedroom door slamming shut.

“Da! Da!” Harry wailed, squirming in Lily's arms. She tried to comfort him, but he wouldn't calm down. Sirius and Remus just sat in the kitchen in shock. Lily was going to take Harry away from them.

“I think we should go,” Lily stood up, holding Harry “I'll come back for his things in a few days. I-I'm sorry. I'm just trying to do what's right for Harry.”

“You're taking him now?” Sirius looked at Remus with panicked eyes

“I think it's best.”

“What? How can you think – Moony, tell her!”

“I can't, Sirius. We have no right”

“Have no right? Who sat up with him when he was teething? Who bought him that stuffed dog he loves so much? Who was there when he first pulled himself up to stand? That was us, Remus. Not her. Us.”

Remus looked at him, a resigned look on his face “But we're not his parents. Only James has rights here.”

“Fine.” Sirius got up and walked to James' room, where he started pounding on the door, yelling at the top of his voice for James to fight.

Harry was still screaming in Lily's arms and she looked at Remus before quietly saying “I'm sorry. I really am.”

“Please don't do this,” Remus pleaded “Don't break up our family.”

“I don't want to, but Harry is my family, he's all the family I have left. I have to do this for him,” She struggled to hold on to Harry as she turned to walk away “I'll be back in a few days.”

Sirius' fists against James' door had got weaker. He heard the front door shut, heard Harry's cries fading away and he slumped onto the floor, barely realising Remus had come to sit down beside him.

Sirius looked up at Remus, heartbroken looks on both their faces “It's not fair Moony, it's not fair.” Sirius' voice was muffled as he buried his face in Remus' neck.

“I know, Padfoot. I know.”

 

  
**Monday**   


For once, Remus awoke before Sirius. He lay there, curled around Sirius, trying not to think about the fact that when they got out of bed, there would be no Harry to feed, no Harry to wash, no Harry to play with. They'd got so used to him being in their lives, to have him yanked away so suddenly felt like losing a limb. Sirius was clutching Harry's favourite stuffed dog, he'd taken it from the nursery before they'd gone to bed. They'd lain awake for hours afterwards. Despite everything, Remus felt lucky to have Sirius, knew that no matter what, they would always be able to find comfort in each other. With Harry being taken away, James had nothing. He kissed Sirius' temple and wondered if James had managed to sleep.

At some point during the night, James had left his room and taken a blanket into Harry's nursery. He wasn't sure he'd slept, just lain there, feeling just as numb as he had when Lily had made her announcement. How could she do this to them? How was moving to Somerset, away from them, in Harry's best interest? He could dimly hear his alarm go off in his room. He didn't get up.

Sirius sighed and rolled over. He knew Remus could tell he was awake, but he didn't want to open his eyes. He could feel Remus' hands tracing patterns on his back and he pressed his lips to Remus' neck in return, an easy comfort they'd been doing for years.

“I don't want to go to work.” he muttered quietly

“I know you don't.”

“Don't want to do anything.”

“I know. Me neither.”

“But I have to go to work,” Sirius opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look at Remus “Don't I?”

“You do,” Remus smiled sadly “Life goes on. It has to.”

“I feel stupid. No one died, but I – he's not here, Remus. He's not here.”

Remus tightened his arms around Sirius “It's not stupid, Padfoot. Not stupid at all. When do you have to be at the theatre?”

“11,” Sirius rested his head on Remus' shoulder “How long have I got?”

“A few hours.”

“Good.”

******

Sirius stood at the doorway of Harry's nursery with Remus, both looking at James, who was still lying on the floor.

“James?” Sirius tentatively spoke “I've got to go to work. Your office called. They said you're not expected back until Thursday, so...” He trailed off, James gave no indication he'd heard him.

Remus tugged at Sirius' hand “Come on, let's give him some time.”

They walked through the living room, both trying to ignore Harry's toys scattered across the sofa. Sirius pulled on his leather jacket and kissed Remus goodbye “Keep an eye on him?”

“You know I will. Bring home some takeout?”

“Sure. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

******

Remus had got dressed and made breakfast before he realised James still hadn't come out of Harry's nursery. He took a deep breath and walked down the hall to confront him.

“James?” He walked in and sat down next to James who had at least moved into a sitting position “Did you sleep?”

James shook his head “I don't know. Maybe?”

“Do you want some food?”

“Not hungry.”

“Want to talk?”

“About what?”

“About how you let your son be taken out of here without even putting up a fight.”

James glared at him “Fuck you, I didn't do that.”

“Really? So that wasn't you walking out of the kitchen last night, ignoring Sirius banging on your door, ignoring Harry screaming and just letting Lily leave with Harry?”

“I didn't – she said – it's about what's best for Harry.”

“James,” Remus sighed “You can't believe that.”

“Why not? I've barely been with him, how am I meant to know what's best for him?”

“You're his Dad. Ok, you took a while to get used to the idea, but once you did you became everything that boy needed.”

“You and Sirius helped.”

“I know we did, but we can't stop Lily from taking Harry. You're the only one who can. James, you love Harry, right?”

James looked at his feet “More than anything. I – I didn't know it was possible to love someone that much.”

“Then fight for him. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for Harry. He deserves to know his Dad fought for him.”

“What if she won't listen?”

“She's scared, James. You heard her last night, her family abandoned her, Harry is all she has. She wants help, she just won't ask for it. You just have to find a way of getting her to stay.”

“But I have nothing to offer her.” James whispered

“I wouldn't be so sure about that.”

“What?”

“Remember what we were talking about a few months ago? Taking over the top of this place once the Longbottoms had moved out?”

“Yeah, but they're not going anywhere while that old battleaxe has hold over Frank.”

“I spoke to Frank a few days ago. He's getting married, moving out. His mother can't afford to stay without him, so she's going as well. Probably with Frank if what he said was any indication.”

“So it'll be for sale?”

“And people say you're stupid.”

“Oi” James shoved Remus, but a smile was on his face “You've obviously thought about this, so fancy filling me in?”

“You know I want upstairs so I can have a bigger studio, which would mean the room I use now would be free,” Remus shrugged “It could be Lily's room. It's near Harry's nursery and it's big enough. I think she should move in. With Harry.”

“Be a bit weird.”

“James, you're a straight man who lives with a gay couple, all of whom have been looking after a child for the past few weeks. Somehow I don't think a traditional home life is on the cards for you.”

“Wanker.”

“Only when Sirius is working.”

“Oh, I did not need to know that.”

“So uptight” Remus grinned “So what do you think?”

“Do you think she'll go for it?”

“I think she wants a reason not to go to Somerset, but you won't know if you don't ask her. She said she'd be over in a few days for Harry's things.”

“Right. Hey, Moony?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For being practical about this. Without you I – I don't know what would've happened.”

“I love Harry too, James. I don't want him gone.”

“Still. Thanks.”

 

  
**Tuesday**   


Sirius walked in the door and threw his jacket on the armchair “So did you call them?”

“Call who, Padfoot?”

“Don't do that,” Sirius came and sat next to Remus on the sofa “The estate agent, you know who.”

“Yes, I called them.”

“And?”

“And they said they would, in principle, accept our offer.”

“Really?”

“Really,” Remus put his book down and smiled at Sirius “We'll have to see if we need planning permission to get rid of what makes them flats, turn it into a proper house again, but even if we do, it won't be too much of a bother.”

“So this will work? We'll get to keep Harry? I mean – if we have the house, she can't say no, can she?”

“Sirius, it's not a done deal, you know that. You can't -”

“I can't get excited, I know,” Sirius paused “But Moony -”

“I know. I want it too.”

 

  
**Wednesday**   


Sirius hadn't sat down since arriving home, he was too nervous, his mind racing at what Lily could say to their offer. He walked into the kitchen to make some tea, his fingers tapping the counter as he waited for the kettle to boil. Remus came up behind him, rested his hand on top of Sirius' and wrapped his other arm around his waist, pulling Sirius back against him.

“Calm down, Padfoot,” he said softly “You'll spill boiling water over yourself if you're this jittery.”

“And you wouldn't love me with scalded skin?”

“Nope,” Remus smiled “I'd kick you out of bed for sure.”

“Git.”

Remus let go of Sirius' hand, letting him reach for the kettle “Make me a cup?”

“Yep. Get me the milk?”

“Uh huh,” Remus walked over to the fridge “Are you ok?” he asked, handing over the milk

“Nervous. I want her to say yes so much, Moony.”

Remus took the mug of tea from Sirius “Yeah. I know. Has James come out of his room yet?”

“He went to the loo, but otherwise, no. He knows he has to be the one to ask her. Wish you could do it. You won't say something stupid.”

“Awful lot of faith you have in James there.”

Sirius leant against the kitchen counter “He's not exactly great with the big speeches. Usually ends up in a lot of swearing.”

“I've told him it doesn't need to be a big speech. He just needs to ask. He'll be ok.”

The doorbell rang, James stuck his head out of his bedroom and yelled “I think that's her.”

Remus looked at Sirius who seemed to be glued to the counter and sighed “Guess I'm getting it, then.”

Harry's face lit up when he saw Remus open the door and let out a happy giggle when he was lifted out of the buggy by Sirius, his hands grabbing at Sirius' hair. James walked into the living room as Lily sat on the sofa. He sat next to her, and they both watched Sirius and Remus entertain Harry.

“James, I want to apologise for the last time I was here. I had no right to just take Harry the same day I turned up without talking to you, I just -”

James cut her off “There's no need.”

“You're not angry?”

“I – I was angry. Now I just want to talk to you. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Do you want to move to Somerset?”

Lily looked away from James “It's not about what I want, James. It's the only option I have.”

“What if it wasn't?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know Remus is an artist, well, we've been planning for a while to buy the top part of this house so that he could have a bigger studio and we could have a bit more space. The people upstairs are moving out, so we've put an offer in.”

“That's great, James, but what does it have to do with me?”

“Sorry. The thing is, once we've done that, we'll have a spare room here. We already have a nursery finished for Harry, and all of us are more than happy to look after him.”

“I don't – I mean I -”

“Look, myself and Sirius have been friends since we were 6. Remus and Sirius have been together for 10 years. We've always thought of ourselves as a family and when Harry turned up, we took on raising him as a family and we miss him. We miss him so much. If what you want is to leave London, to move to Somerset, then we won't stand in your way, but we would really, really love it if you and Harry would stay here, with us, be part of our family,” James smiled at her “We're a little strange, but we make it work.”

Lily laughed “Are you all sure about this? I don't want to – if it would be putting you out at all, I wouldn't -”

Remus looked over at her “Lily, sorry, but do we look like we're being put out? I think I can speak for all of us when I say these last couple of days without Harry have been awful. We want you both here.”

“I don't really know what to say, I don't want to leave London, really I don't. I just thought it'd be best for Harry.”

“We know,” Sirius said “We want what's best for him as well. Which is why you should both move in with us.”

“Do I have a choice here?” Lily smiled

Sirius laughed “Of course you do. We're just planning on making it really, really hard for you if you say no.”

“Sirius!” Remus batted him around the head “Excuse him, Lily, politeness wasn't really part of his upbringing.”

“Hey, that was the polite version!”

James looked at Lily “I hope this isn't putting you off.”

“Actually, it's oddly entertaining.”

“I don't want to pressure you, but do you have an answer?”

Lily looked around at them all, all three of them had hopeful looks on their faces but her eyes settled on Harry. He was sitting contentedly on the floor between Remus and Sirius, his hands clapping together and a smile on his face. He looked happy and loved. It was that which made up her mind. She looked at James “I want what's best for Harry and I think this is what's best for him,” She grinned. “We'll move in.”

“Yes!” Sirius punched a fist in the air before pulling Remus towards him for a kiss.

James got off the sofa and picked Harry up, frowning at them both “Not in front of Harry!” He rolled his eyes as Sirius stuck two fingers up at him, not letting go of Remus for a second.

Sitting back down on the sofa with Harry on his lap, he glanced at Lily “I really hope you aren't regretting this already.”

She settled back into the sofa, tucking her legs under her “Oh, they're cute. It's good, y'know, knowing that Harry was around people who love him.”

“Da!” Harry made a grab for James' fingers “Da!”

Sirius finally let Remus go, both their faces flushed. Sirius leant against Remus, his head on Remus' shoulder. He snaked his arm around Remus' waist, fingers splayed under his shirt, and smiled “I think he might actually realise you're his Dad, James.”

“You think?” James turned Harry around so he was facing him “Who am I Harry? Who am I?”

“Da!” Harry exclaimed

“I'll take that.”

“I hate to burst your bubble,” Lily said “But he called the bus driver 'Da' yesterday as well.”

Remus laughed at the look on James' face and settled back into Sirius' embrace, surveying the scene before him. Smiles on faces and laughter, everything he'd had growing up, everything he'd wanted for their family. Everything was going to be just fine.

 

  
**Six months later**   


“Woah there, Harry.” Sirius scooped up Harry as he toddled towards the kitchen.

“No!” Harry yelled “No!”

Sirius groaned “Why, out of all the words in the world, did you have to learn that one? Can't say things like 'sun' or 'moon', but that one, you've got down.” He put Harry back in the living room “How about we do blocks? Want to do blocks, Harry?”

Harry reached for the colourful blocks and stacked some up before grinning and smashing his fist into them, laughing as they fell.

“Some things never change,” Remus observed from the doorway, crouching down to lift Harry as he toddled towards him “Hi kiddo, what have you been doing today?”

“Mostly smashing blocks and refusing to eat cheese” Sirius leant over Harry's head and kissed Remus softly “Hi.”

“Hi,” Remus closed the door behind him “Refusing to eat cheese? Now, Harry, why would you do a thing like that? Cheese is lovely.”

“No!”

“Right. We're still on that, are we?”

“Oh yes, we're still on that,” Sirius said “Please teach him another word, Moony, please.”

Remus laughed “Why me?”

“You're smart! Teach him to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for all I care, just something other than that infernal word.”

“No.” Remus smirked

“I'm going to kill you.”

James came walking in “Why are you killing Remus?”

“He's not,” Remus said “He's just frustrated because he's never heard the word 'no' so much in his life.”

“Oi!”

“What? That wasn't an insult.”

“Oh. It sounded like one.”

“I have no idea what either of you are talking about,” James laughed “When's Lily back?”

“She's just gone to the newsagent, she should be back soon. She knows what time the appointment is, don't worry.”

******

“I think we stand out a bit, Moony.” Sirius whispered

“You usually enjoy being the centre of attention, Padfoot.”

“Yeah but -” Sirius stopped talking as a woman came out of the office.

“Next, Mr Potter, Miss Evans, Mr Black and Mr Lupin and...Harry?” They all stood up, James holding Harry's hand as he toddled along, the woman smiled “All of you? Ok, follow me.”

Sirius took Remus' hand and walked alongside Lily, following James and Harry into the room.

The photography studio had a large sofa in it, and Harry headed straight for it, climbing up onto the seat and looking at them expectantly.

The photographer laughed, “Looks like he's ready? Mum, Dad, are you ready?”

“It's not just us,” Lily said “They're family too. We all want to be in the photo.”

“Fine with me,” the photographer said “There's room on that sofa for all of you.”

They settled on the sofa, Harry in the middle between James and Remus, Lily next to James and Sirius next to Remus.

“Ok, say cheese everyone!”

“No!”


End file.
